


Early Spring

by partofforever (edvic)



Series: Winter, spring, summer, autumn... and winter again [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Algie Longbottom Cameo, Also Herbert Beery Cameo, Constructive Criticism Welcome, Good Tom Riddle, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm sorry Charles, M/M, More Dickens References, Slytherins Being Slytherins, Time Travel, Tom Trying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-04-02 05:18:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4047568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edvic/pseuds/partofforever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ron recruits Harry as a part-time nanny for Crookshanks, but a forgotten Time-Turner changes a chilly evening into a sunny afternoon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Early Spring

_Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,_

_The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;_

_And 'tis my faith that every flower_

_Enjoys the air it breathes._

William Wordsworth

 

"Harry, are you sure you can handle it?"

"Hermione, it's just a cat."

"It's a sick cat..."

"... in good hands, you can trust me."

"Exactly, after all Harry could take care of a dragon, if there was such a need, right? A cat is a piece of cake for him", Ron pulled a coat towards his girlfriend, urging her to come with him.

Hermione looked at Crookshanks, who slept in a huge basket and there was no indication that he was going anywhere in the nearest future. In the end the girl gave up and grabbed her coat. Evenings were especially chilly this March and meadows around Hogwarts were still wearing the remnants of snow.

"Just be careful, so he doesn't touch the bondage, ok?" Hermione added at their parting, glancing over her shoulder.

Harry nodded in response and smiled at his friend. She still wasn't aware what was the purpose of the whole scene.

Crookshanks was actually sick, but he was feeling a little better for the past few days. Despite this, Hermione didn't want to leave him alone even for a few hours, and Ron happened to plan something special for this day. He was planning this for a long time and didn't want a sick cat – which, in addition, he wasn't very fond of at first - to thwart his plans. Therefore he hired Harry as a part-time cat-nanny and treated Hermione to a romantic dinner, after which he was going to finally propose. Harry was just hoping that everything goes according to plan and he won't have to take care not only of a sick cat, but also a depressed friend.

Crookshanks wasn't indeed a very demanding bather - for the first hour he didn't even give any signs of life, except for the occasional wheezing. After a while Harry started to get bored, because unfortunately he hasn't thought of taking any books or maybe job applications with him. He would happily wander around the castle, but he promised not to leave the cat... It wase nice to be here again, even for such a prosaic occasion. Harry truly enjoyed living with Ron in London, but he never felt there as much at home as here at Hogwarts. He wondered if he would  _ever_  feel somewhere like here.

The common room slowly began to empty with every passing hour. The boy walked aimlessly through the circular room, looking out the window from time to time. Hagrid's hut was lit for some time with warm lamp lights, but around midnight the only bright spot on Hogwarts' grounds disappeared. Only moonlight reflected in the still surface of the lake.

Harry has already decided to stretch out on the couch and sleep at least for a few hours, when he noticed something shiny in Crookshanks' basket. At first Harry didn't want to believe what he was seeing, but after closer inspection he found that a Time-Turner really was lying between blankets. The same one he used only a few months ago to save Christmas. But what was it doing here? Probably Hermione allowed Crookshanks to play with it. Maybe she was so worried about her precious pet, that she let Crookshanks have the delicate device as a toy. And didn't Ron mention that she has stopped working on it? Apparently it was true...

Harry glanced for a moment at the golden chain, wondering if it's worth pulling a hand for it. Maybe he could go back a couple of hours and walk quietly around the school? After all he will be watching after Crookshanks  _at the same time_ , so Hermione couldn't blame him. The plan seemed absolutely harmless - this time he didn't even intend to  _change_  the past. He just needed a few hours more.

And if he's gone a little too far again? Well, nothing has changed since his last visit in the past – the future was quite ordinary. Apparently being a spirit of Christmas wasn't his fated job.

He hesitated only for a moment more and then grabbed the Time-Turner. Crookshanks shifted uneasily in his sleep.

"Three turns should do it, right?" Harry asked, but no one responded.

...

Harry immediately felt a vague impression that three turns weren't exactly the right choice. The sun was shining brightly throught the windows and birds were singing, probably it was around noon. At that time he wasn't in school yet. Harry suspected that he wouldn't face any serious consequences - perhaps someone could be surprised that he came to school twice in one day, but there was still a chance that no one will even  _notice him_. He should simply avoid Hermione for a few hours, that's all.

Harry walked quickly through the secret passage and run down the stairs. The grounds should be the safest. At this time most of the students should be still in the classrooms, so meeting someone wandering around the lake was unlikely.

"... this time, maybe we should try a musical?" Harry heard a pleasent girl's voice and quickly ducked behind one of the old armors. After all he preferred not to be noticed.

After a while a dark-haired girl emerged from around the corner, accompanied by a burly man with a slightly worried expression.

"Unfortunately, I'm afraid that none of this can happen, Miss Rosier... Teachers clearly voted to ban any performeces. If they only knew what talents are wasting..."

"Maybe next year they'll change their minds, sir." The girl said with a smile and then turned toward the stairwell, whilst the man went down the hall.

A new teacher? Harry thought that he was up to date with the state of the Hogwarts staff, all the more that he recommended a few people after the war, but apparently he missed someone. Maybe it was a deputy? And who was this girl? She looked like a fifth grade student at least, and yet he didn't recognize her at all... Maybe he spent too little time with younger colleagues, when he went to school.

Lost in thoughts of this kind Harry has come out of the castle. The sun reflected in the lake as beautifully as the moon at night, which was yet to come. A light breeze carried with it the scent of early March flowers, and the branches of all the trees except the Whomping Willow were full of birds.

Harry sat on the edge of the lake hidden from the eyes of onlookers by a clump of bushes. He breathed deeply and thought that going back in time was in fact an excellent idea.

But he couldn't enjoy the tranquility for too long. After a few minutes he began to hear angry voices that grew louder until he saw a group of students from his hiding place. At first it seemed to him that they were involved in a strange game that required thrashing each other with some kind of an irregular bag. After a moment he realized that it was not a bag, but another student, shorter and more frail than the others.

Harry jumped up from the ground and started to walk toward the group, not remebering that theoretically he wasn't even there and that no one should see him. He couldn' allow anything like that. Bullying a student reminded him too much of his own childhood and Dudley chasing him with his gang on the school playground.

"What's going on here?" Harry exclaimed, pulling one of the executioners' sleeve. Slytherin. Why wasn't he surprised? "Stop immediately!"

"And why should we listen to you?" Another student asked and Harry get a vague feeling that the blond boy reminded him of someone, even though he was sure he had never seen him before.

Did they began some exchange program at Hogwarts? Actually he didn't recognize any of these boys, although he could assume that the blonde one was a relative of Draco Malfoy and the one he was holding could pass for a Black, because he reminded him of Sirius so much.

"Well, maybe because it's not nice to bully someone weaker than you?" Harry asked this question in an annoyed tone, because he couldn't believe that even after the war students weren't gettin along.

In response he heard only a collective laughter.

"Maybe you want to replace Algie?" Teased the blond, which made him look even more like Draco. "Come on, Longbottom, run away as fast as you can!"

The short boy in Gryffindor robes jumped to his feet and ran towards the castle not looking back. Harry felt that something in this whole situation is starting to bother him.

From what he could remember, Neville had no younger cousin, who would study at Hogwarts, and besides, wasn't Neville's uncle called Algie? The one who gave him Theodora?

But if it was  _that_  Algie Longbottom, then something went terribly wrong.  _Again_. It seemed that travels in time weren't the domain of the Boy Who Lived.

On the other hand, it explained why these students seemed somehow familiar. The blond one actually had to be related to Draco Malfoy - he was probably his grandfather. The likeness of the latter to Sirius shouldn't amaze anyone, because it was probably his father, Orion Black.

Future Death Eaters, that's who they were. It wasn't a very comforting thought. Harry had only hoped that they wouldn't dare to use any dangerous curses on school grounds. After all they were just a group of kids. And it seemed they had no leader...

"What's going on here?" This question was asked for the second time in a matter of minutes and Harry would feel relieved, if only he didn't recognize the voice that asked it. Could it be he called out the devil? "I think I clearly said I don't want you to be seen?"

"It's all his fault" said Abraxas Malfoy and Harry was pretty sure that he heard a note of fear in his voice. "He wanted to stop us..." Malyof paused suddenly, as if he said too much.

"Stopped you from  _what_?" Tom Riddle, because it was him that the voice belonged to, seemed more than enraged.

"We just wanted to scare Algie a little..." Another boy started, but he went silent, probably intimidated by Riddle's look.

"Get out of my face. Immediately."

"But..."

"I said  _immediately_ , Black."

After a moment there were no Slytherins in sight. Harry wondered if anyone would have listened to him like that. Prabably not, he didn't have that kind of influence. Even Dumbledore's Army wasn't  _that_ commited to him, when he needed them.

"I'm so sorry that they bothered you, sir." Suddenly a clearly nicer version of Tom Riddle's voice reached Harry's ears and he turned around.

Since Harry met Tom Riddle for the last time in winter, not much has changed - he was still sickly pale, as if the spring sun didn't affect him. But there was something new and unknown in his face too. Some kind of  _presage_. As if the spring could also happen inside one's mind.

"I try to somehow control them, but..." The future Dark Lord stopped suddenly and for a moment he looked very foolish with his lips parted in surprise. "What are  _you_  doing here?"

Harry was about to say something very eloquent, but he didn't got the chance.

"It's only spring, Christmas is still many months away! I didn't have enough time to do anything! Do you even know how hard it is to turn everything back again?" Riddle looked reproachfully at Harry. "Have you come to check me?"

Harry smiled cheerfully, not believing what he was hearing. Tom Riddle and the Spirit of Christmas, someone should write a book about it.

"Well, the spirits of Christmas don't have too much to do" he said casually, enjoying the surprised look on Tom Riddle's face. "Sometimes we chceck the most severe cases."

" _The most severe cases_?"

Harry wished he had carried a magic camera with him just to capture this moment. Here's The Boy Who Lived face to face with his would-be killer again, talking to him as a long-unseen friend, uninvited, but dear one. He will have to use Pensieve, when he returns to the future – he hadn't seen anything so funny in a long time.

"I see that you don't really know how to deal with your colleagues" Harry began and pulled Tom towards the lake. "Maybe you should be a little softer for them?"

They sat on the grass and talked. Sometimes Harry was talking, sometimes he was just listening. Something really has changed; the winter he remembered was slowly giving up. Not right away and not entirely - rather gradually and with some resistance. It's not so easy to make first flowers bloom from beneath the snow; it's even more difficult to change a man. And although earlier it seemed quite impossible, maybe he was wrong.

Tom talked about many things - the classes he was taking and how difficult it was to rule the Slytherins, who called themeselves the Knights of Walpurgis. He talked about the teachers and mentioned that Albus Dumbledore probably guessed that someone used his Pensieve, because one day he stopped Tom after class with a mysterious smile and handed him a chocolate frog, saying only: "It can be done". Tom talked also about how much he doesn't want to go back to the orphanage this summer, but Harry couldn't make him talk more about it. Apparently it wasn't the right time to talk about it yet.

The sun began to sink in the west and Harry suddenly remembered that he had to watch after Crookshanks and that at the same time he was wandering in the distant past his best friend was asking Hermione to marry him.

"I've lingered here a little to long." Harry sighed, getting up from the ground.

"You're already going?" Has it only seemed to him that Riddle was actually disappointed? "You should spend some more time with  _severe cases_ , shouldn't you?"

"Severe cases?" Harry laughed. "Spirits of Christmas visit only the ones they like the most."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading - I hope you enjoyed this story. There is more of Harry and Tom coming :)


End file.
